Stockpiling Several Years of Coal??

I am hoping to get 20 tons delivered before Aug 1st!!

I mentioned this to my wife and she said, "THAT WILL LOOK HORRIBLE IN OUR YARD!"

But I am more concerned about the price of coal going up over the next couple of years. I'd rather have a nice 3 year supply and know that it's PAID FOR!

I'm probably going to use the concrete stack blocks that Greg and Freddy used.

My wife complained too about t he looks. You want to be warm don't ya?

Some ideas .. Cover the coal pile with a tarp, then put some dirt on it and plant grass or some low growing ground cover. Tell the neighbors it's just landscaping. Mine some coal each heating season. Contour first for dirt bike jumps.

Right now my coal is on pallets in my attached garage. I could store a 20+ ton load of loose coal in my cellar, but there are two problems. (1) The only reasonable way in is through a 12 x 24 inch window whose bottom is flush with the ground. (2) The only way out is for me to carry it up the narrow cellar stairs 25 or 30 pounds at a time. Great exercise, yes, unless I get hurt or sick and can't take the strain. (My wife keeps reminding me that one 60-year-old is not the equal of two 30-year-olds. I assume she is talking about lugging coal, and not anything else.)

Any bright ideas how to handle this? Actually I am more puzzled about getting the coal in than getting it out, since bringing it up stairs really would involve an average of only two trips a day.

rberq wrote:Any bright ideas how to handle this? Actually I am more puzzled about getting the coal in than getting it out, since bringing it up stairs really would involve an average of only two trips a day.

Hi Bob,

Hey .....I'm 61 years old, so do what I do:
Cut open the coal bag & carry the coal up the stairs..........One nugget at a time!

Matthaus wrote:I'm just hoping that a mine subsidence doesn't give the black gold back to mother earth! Would serve me right for trying to plan and outsmart current events.

http://www.undergroundminers.com/subsidenceindex.html

traderfjp wrote:Count me in. If I can score 23 tons I'll be set for about 7 years. Now wouldn't that be nice. I have an area that is 30 x 25 can anyone tell me how high 23 tons would be in this area?

Thanks

It's going to be as high as its going to be if that makes any sense. Rough guess is about 5-6 feet, a tri-axle cant stack it up high. If you got it delivered via a regular coal truck you could stack it much higher. I've made piles as high as about 7 feet and could of made them higher except I ran out of coal.

I meant how high will my pile be once I spread it out over the 30 x 25' area. I was told it would be about 16" which would be perfect. I'd lay it down like ground cover and then harvest it as needed. This would keep the wife happy. I was thinking rubberized linoleum for an underlayment.

Yanche wrote:Some ideas .. Cover the coal pile with a tarp, then put some dirt on it and plant grass or some low growing ground cover. Tell the neighbors it's just landscaping. Mine some coal each heating season. Contour first for dirt bike jumps.

I like the way you think!!! "honey, I need to order 20 tons of coal and a new KTM"

"... I meant how high will my pile be once I spread it out over the 30 x 25' area. I was told it would be about 16"...

trader, 16 inches sounds about right. If you estimate 42 cubic feet per ton, then for 23 tons you need 966 cubic feet.
Your area is 30 x 25, which is 750 square feet, so each foot of depth gives you 750 cubic feet. So divide 966 by 750, and the result is 1.29 feet of depth, or between 15 and 16 inches.

Hmmmm, I never thought of coal as a ground cover before. I wonder how my wife would feel if I mulched her flower gardens with 16 inches of coal....

I'm a guy that used to buy a few bags of coal (Blaschak) as needed throughout the heating season......but not any more!
You bulk guys have made me jealous with your "mountains of coals" on hand, so I recently bought about 2.3 tons of bagged Blaschak (about 1.3 winter's worth) & today I called a local dealer (Morrison's) who's going to get back to me when they get more coal in & figure out the price per pallet. (60 forty pound bags). I'd love to try Superior Coal but noone seems to carry it around here in SE Mass.

Same here. I have next years coal in the basement and have a good start on the following year. My plan is to have at least 2 years and hopefully 3 years ahead at all times. I pick up coal once a week, every week now, planning my trip home going by the coal dealer so that it does not cost me any more for transportation. Costs have already started going up around here. I called one of my other suppliers that was selling Blaschak for $6.29 and they are now $6.99.

coal-cooker wrote:Same here. I have next years coal in the basement and have a good start on the following year. My plan is to have at least 2 years and hopefully 3 years ahead at all times

Yes....2-3 year supply on hand sounds good.

(here's the roughly 2.3 tons that I have on hand...any excuse to post these)

Devil5052 wrote:I'm a guy that used to buy a few bags of coal (Blaschak) as needed throughout the heating season......but not any more!
You bulk guys have made me jealous with your "mountains of coals" on hand, so I recently bought about 2.3 tons of bagged Blaschak (about 1.3 winter's worth) & today I called a local dealer (Morrison's) who's going to get back to me when they get more coal in & figure out the price per pallet. (60 forty pound bags). I'd love to try Superior Coal but noone seems to carry it around here in SE Mass.

The only way you will get Superior coal up there is If you call them and get it delivered Blaschak is a breaker and a bagging plant They sell in 36 states and have over 4500 dealers Most of there business is in bagged coal Like Reading Anthracite and Kimmel coal co, They are Surface mining co. They can produce More coal They use Machinery Deep miners use Hand tools it is a Much slower Process but more controlled You will get a better Product in the end

"Better to have it and not need it."..all at once anyway? I am looking to Penn Coal for 23 tons of bagged pea. Your thoughts on their product? I used Blashak in the past with even heating Vigilante II stove at a steady 500 degrees.